Although a relationship between the mirror neuron system and transference-countertransference in psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been suggested, how psychoanalytic psychotherapy alters the mirror neuron system remains unknown. We reconstructed the tracts interconnecting cortical regions believed to be part of the mirror neuron system associated with schizophrenia and anxiety. Here we discuss the findings of an imaging study on the effects of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for several psychiatric disorders obtained from previous research on the mirror neuron system.
 Author's abstract